Apparatus for feeding and severing webs of paper or similar thin material



Dec. 16, 1941. GAFORSTER APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND SEVERING WEBS OFPAPER OR SIMILAR THIN MATERIAL Filed Nov. 2, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I,zven 3:?- 6411 MQ m Dec. 16, 1941. G. FORSTER 2,266,362

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND SEVERING WEBS OF PAPER OR SIMILAR THINMATERIAL Fil ed Nov. 2, 1959 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. I 16, 194iAPPARATUS FOR FEEDING AND SEVERING WEBS OF PAPER OR SIMILAR THIN MA-TEBIAL Leslie Gordon Forster, Deptford, London, England, assignor toMolins Machine Company Limited, Deptford, London, England ApplicationNovember 2, 1939, Serial No. 302,616 In Great Britain November 11, 19384 Claims.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to apparatus forfeeding and severing webs of paper or similar thin material, forexample, webs formed from a cellulose derivative, the apparatuscomprising a web severing device and co-operating feeding elements (e.g. a pair of rollers) operative to draw a web from a reel and to feedthe web to the severing device.

-- It has previously been customary when using apparatus of the kindabove described, particularly for use with webs formed from a cellulosederivative, to employ, in conjunction with the web feeding device,mechanism to corrugate the web transversely to its length: in order tofacilitate' the feeding'of the web to the severing de- In.,the knownconstructions the web corrugating mechanism is disposed between thefeeding elementsaii'd the severing device, so that the web is',drawntowards and is moved be tween the feeding elements in a. flat condition.

It is well known that with the forms of corrugating devices heretoforeemployed the setting of the corrugating devices is an extremely delicateoperation, and machine operators differ in their opinions as to theextent of the depth of the corrugations which shall be employed.

It is the object of the present invention to improve the feeding of thinwebs of material.

According to-one.form of the invention there is provided in or forapparatus of the kind described means to bend the web transversely ofwhile the part of the web so bent is under tension lengthwise.

According to another form of the invention there. is provided in or forapparatusof the kinddescribed means adapted to be positioned on eachside of the feeding elements, considered in the direction of movement ofthe web by the in means is provided to bend or to bow the webtransversely of its length while the web is under lengthwise tension(e.' g. the bowing means is operative prior to engagement of the web bythe feeding elements), and wherein said means maintains the bending orbowing of the webits length to increase its stiffness lengthwise duringengagement thereof by the feeding elements and during the movement ofthe web between the feeding elements and the web severing device.

The means to bend the web may be arranged to provide a plurality ofbends in the web (e. g. to corrugate the web).

Various ways of carrying the invention into effect will be described byway of example with reference to the accompanying drawings,- in which-Figure l is a front elevation of a portion of a packing machine with theinvention applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a section of Figure l on the line,

Figure 3 is a section of Figure l on the line 3-3, but with the feedingrollers shown in full.

Figures '4 and 5 show modifications wherein the web is bowed instead of'being corrugated.

Figure 6 shows a cutting device whereby a bowed (or corrugated) web maybe severed without flattening the web.

Figure '7 shows a portion of the machine shown in Figure l andillustrates a modification.

Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the specificationand drawings.

Referring to Figures 1 to 3, the web feeding apparatus is shown appliedto a wrapping ma-' chine for wrapping articles 4 for example cigarettepackages 4), in wrappers formed from a cellulose derivative. Thewrapping material is provided on a reel 5 and is drawn lengthwise d fromthe reel by co-operating rollers 6 and 1.

The web is moved by the rollers 6 and l to a po- 'sition at which awrapper blank is severed from the leading end of the web of material.The

severing device may be of any suitable known construction, but theconstruction shown com prises a stationary knife 8 with whichco-operates a rotatable knife 9. The web feeding apparatus and thesevering device are disposed above the bed lll'of the machine, and thefeeding rollersfe ed the wrapping material so that the leading end ofthe wrapping material passes through a slot H in the bed of the machineand is thereby located in the path of the article 4 which is to bewrapped. The article, which is moved along the bed by a pusher 42carried by an endless conveyor I3, is preferably moved into engagementwith the wrapping material just prior to the instant when the severingdevice operates to sever a wrapper from the web. By this means thewrapper after being severed from the web is held in the desired positionrelatively to the article to be wrapped.

In order to facilitate the feeding of the web, a pair of corrugatedguides I4 and I5 are provided between which the web is passed. Thecorrugated guides are disposed as closely to' gether as possible, seeFigure 3, while permitting the web to pass between the guides, and theweb is corrugated transversely of its length by the guides I4 and I5.The feeding rollers do not extend across the full width of the web butengage with the middle portion of the web, and the corrugated guides areprovided with apertures I6 through which the co-operating feedingrollers protrude to perform the 'feeding operation. By this means thecorrugated guides I4, I5 engage the web and corrugate it' before thefeeding rollers engage the web, and the corrugated formation of the webis maintained during the feeding thereof by the feeding rollers andthereafter during its movement towards the severing device.

As stated above, the rollers feed the web so that the leading end of theweb projects through a slot II in the bed of the machine, and the extentof the corrugation imparted to the web by the guides I4 and I5 is suchthat the corrugation is maintained in the web even after the latter haspassed beyond the guides I 4 and I5 and beyond the position at which theweb is to be severed;

It will of course be appreciated that when the knives of the severingdevice co-operate to sever the web, the Web is flattened along the lineof severance, but this is of no consequence since at the time ofsevering the portion of the web which is to be severed from the web isalready engaged by the article about which the severed portion is to bewrapped.

After a strip of wrapping material is severed from the web the movementof the article 4 bends it into a U about the article as the latter movesbeneath a top plate I1. At the same time narrow tucks are made in thebase of the U by folders I8 and the material is thereafter completelyfolded around the article in the known manner.

The necessary tension is imparted to the web by an adjustable brake bandI 9 which passes around the hub which carries the reel 5 and rotates ona spindle 2I fixed to a support bracket 22. The whole feeding andcutting device is fixed to a bridge 23 supported by pillars 24 fixed tothe bed l0 and further support is given by a bracket 25. The frame 26 inwhich the roller 6 is rotatably mounted is pivoted at 21 to the bridge23 and the rollers B and 1 are forced together by spring devices, notshown. The guides I 4 and I5 are supported by angle brackets 28 and 29which are respectively fixed to the frame 30 in which the roller 1 isrotatably mounted and the frame In' Figures 4 and 5 the arrangement isgenerally similar to that described with reference to Figures 1 and 3,but the device is constructed to bow the web instead of corrugating it.A convex guide 3| co-operates with a concave guide 32 for this purpose,and the feed rollers 6 and I have only a single flange instead of two asbefore. The rollers engage through slots 33 in the guides 3I and 32.

It will also be appreciated that if desired the severing device may beso constructed, e. g. by suitably shaping the knives, that the web"isnot flattened during a severing operation;

Such a device is shown in Figure 6 where a mately 11 millimetres.

fixed concave knife 34 co-operates with a reciprocating convex knife 35.If the wrapping ma.- chine is of the kind wherein the web isintermittently fed this device as shown is suitable, but if the machineis provided with a continuous web feed it is easy to construct theknives to move downwards with the web during the cutting operation. Asimilar devicewill sever the corrugated web if the edges of the knivesare shaped to suit the web cross-section.

The guides I4, I5 and 3|, 32 preferably extend from the feeding rollersto a position located as closely as possible to the point at which thesevering of the web is effected.

It will be appreciated that if desired instead of the guides 14, I5 and3|, 32 being provided with apertures through which the feeding rollersprotrude, two sets of guides may be provided, one set of guides beingdisposed in advance of the point at which the feeding rollers engage theweb, while the other pair of guides is located between the feedingrollers and the severing device. Such a device is shown in Figure 7,where the upper and lower guides are marked I4 a, I5a and Mb, I5brespectively. By reason of the fact that the guides engage and bow orcorrugate the web while it is in a state of tension between the reel andthe feeding rollers, it is possible to effect the desired bowing orbending of the web with less likelihood of the web being damaged bybuckling or otherwise, as is the case when corrugating apparatus of thekind; heretofore used is employed and through which the web is pushed.In this latter case the corrugating must of necessity be effected uponthat portion of the web which is not tensioned lengthwise and which,therefore, unless the corrugating devices are adjusted with extremedelicacy, tends to buckle and thereby to interrupt the continuousfeeding of the web.

In one suitable construction in accordance with the invention it hasbeen found that with a web the width of which is approximatelymillimetres a suitable depth for the bow is approxi- These dimensionsare, however, arbitrary and it has been found that by providing thewebtransversely of its length with two bows greater rigidity of the web isobtained and that the depth of the bowing need be only approximately onehalf the depth employed when the web is bowed transversely of its lengthin the form of a single bow.

The advantage obtained by reason of the invention is obtained mainly dueto the fact that the web is bowed or bent while the web is in tensionlengthwise, that is to say, the web is bowed before it is engaged by thefeeding rollers.

If the web is corrugated it will be appreciated that the bends should bespaced apart sufliciently far to enable the pulling rollers to engageand pull the corrugated web through the guides with-.- out materiallyupsetting the corrugations so as to interfere with the feeding of theweb.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In web feeding apparatus, a support for a reel from which a web isfed, cooperating feeding elements to draw a web from a reel on saidsupport, means to tension a web moving towards the feeding elements, andopposed male and female guides located between the feeding elements andsaid support anddisposed on opposite sides of the path of a web, saidguides having their opposed surfaces correspondingly shaped to match oneanother so as to bend a web transversely of its length, said feedingelements being the feeding elements, and opposed slotted maleand femaleguides located between the feeding elements and said support anddisposed on opposite sides of the path of a web, said guides havingtheir opposed surfaces correspondingly shaped to transversely of itslength, said feeding elements being arranged to protrude through theslots in said guides.

3. In web feeding apparatus, a support for a reel from which a web isfed, cooperating feed ing elements to draw a web from a, reel on saidsupport, means to tension a web moving towards the feeding elements, afirst set of opposed male and female guides located between the feedingmatch one another so as to bend a web elements and the support anddisposed'on opposite sides of the path of a web, said guides havingtheir opposed surfaces correspondingly shaped to match one another so asto bend a web transversely of its length, and a second set of guidessimilar to said first set to retain the bend in a web after the latterhas passed the feeding elements, said feeding elements being arranged toprotrude beyond the'opposed surfaces of the guides. I

4. In web feeding apparatus, a support for a reel from which a web isfed, cooperating feeding elements to draw a web from a reel on saidsupport, means to tension a web moving towards the feeding elements, andopposed male and female guides located between the feeding elements andsaid support and disposed on opposite sides of the path of a web, saidguides havmg their opposed surfaces correspondingly arched to match oneanother so as to bend a web transversely of its length, said feedingelements being arranged to protrude beyond the opposed surfaces of saidguides.

LESLIE GORDON FORSTER.

